


Naked

by DragMeDownFuckMeUp



Category: Ballum, EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Ben Mitchell - Freeform, Callum Highway, Declaration of Love, Fluff, M/M, Not Titanic 2.0, The Valentine’s Day they should have got, ballum - Freeform, just a little valentine love, valentines day 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22815178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragMeDownFuckMeUp/pseuds/DragMeDownFuckMeUp
Summary: This is my submission for the Ballum Valentine’s Day event.Ben Mitchell and Callum Highway Valentine’s Day fic. Title taken from James Arthur - Naked (Ballum indeed)It’s almost Valentines Day for Ben and Callum. The first one that they will share together and Ben is adamant that he wants to make it special. Sometimes special isn’t a million different plans or luxurious gifts, sometimes it’s just family.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Kudos: 40





	Naked

Ben hates Valentine's day. That’s what he tells anyone that will listen. Its overpriced and commercialised and if he wanted to tell Callum he loved him, he would do it with words, not a teddy bear holding a heart that speaks when you press its paw.

The thing is, he hasn’t actually told Callum he loves him yet and as much as he wishes he could, he is finding it almost impossible to get the words out. It doesn’t feel like anything will be enough. And even though Callum knows, he knows that he needs to tell him. The longer he leaves it the bigger it feels and the harder it gets.

“Don't make plans for tomorrow night by the way,” He shouts to Callum as he is just about to sneak off out

“You don’t want me to make plans on February 14th?” He asks with a smirk “Ben Mitchell are you asking me to be your Valentines?”

“No, I'm not!” he scoffs, which is code for _yes, I am, please don’t make fun of me._

“Fine, if you don’t ask me properly then maybe I'll just have to make plans with someone who actually wants me to be their Valentine!” He tells Ben, quickly nipping back over to the bed to give him a kiss on the forehead and winking at him before he hurries back off.

He loves him. Like, he _really_ loves him. He knows there aren't enough words in the world to express that.

Callum changed his life. He has made him want to be better. He has made him think about his future and how badly he wants things to work out for Lexi. He has made every bad thing he has ever done seem redeemable somehow.

Ben is scared. Scared that when he tells him he loves him, Callum is, for some reason, going to decide that’s the point he wants to run away and he doesn’t think he can handle it.

He knows how he feels when Callum tells him he loves him though, that weird fluttery feeling he gets. The one that takes over his whole body. If it’s the same for Callum, he knows he has nothing to worry about. But what if he changes his mind? Decides that Ben, after all, isn't worth all the fussing and fighting. He isn't worth all the stress that being with Ben Mitchell brings with him.

He has to bite the bullet though, get it out there, say the words and deal with anything else that comes with it because its Callum. His Callum.

He had plans, loads of them. So many that Lola told him he was going a bit too over the top and to tone it done a little. He didn’t, of course he didn’t. He wanted Callum to have the sickliest, cheesiest, over the top Valentine's Day ever. He wanted him to remember it for the rest of his life... or at least until Ben can think of something to top it.

Callum is the sort of guy that loves the cheesy romance. The softness of the day and everything that it is supposed to be. It’s just his thing, it might not be Ben’s but that isn’t the point of it all right now.

So he had booked a hotel room, because no matter how many times his mum tells him she will make herself scarce, he didn’t quite believe that she would be able to stop herself from sticking her head into the kitchen a million times to ask how it's going and if they needed anything.

So they will check in, freshen up – which is code for get filthy in the shower, of course. And then head out for dinner and some overpriced awful restaurant. They will eat by candlelight and hold hands over the table. All that shit that you see in films that Ben didn’t believe was actually real until he met Callum.

“Daddy!!” He hears in a voice way too loud for this time of the morning as he walks into the kitchen

“Lex, babe, remember when we spoke about inside voices?” He asks with a laugh as he crouches down to her level so she can throw her arms around him, the same way she does every morning

“Sorry,” She mumbles “I’m just really excited, mum bought me a new dress and grandad sent me some money to buy those pink glittery shoes that we saw last week,” her level of excitement is something Ben can never get over.

She has the snarkiness of both Ben and Lola combined, she is grumpy and stroppy on top of that. But she is strong willed and excitable and she just loves life. Ben sometimes finds himself being a little jealous of how care free she is, wishing he was that age again himself.

Then again, he isn't sure he has ever been anywhere near as happy as Lexi is and he only hopes that it stays that way. The one thing he wants more than Callum, is to make sure she has everything she has ever wanted or needed in life.

“What are you excited for then?” He asks

“For tomorrow!” She says with a sigh, like he already should have known

“Lexi Pearce, do you have yourself a date?” He asks acting shocked with a slight mocking tone

“No!” She rolls her eyes “Boys are awful!”

“That's right!” He tells her “Let's keep it that way until you're at least 40 ok?”

“Does that mean you're 40 then?” She asks in a way that tells Ben she knows exactly what she is saying. Clever.

“No, but I'm different!” He points out “So come on, why you so excited?”

“Because you are taking me to that show, remember?” He feels his heart sink.

Yes. Yes, now he remembers.

He and Callum hadn't been talking and at that point he honestly didn’t see it getting better any time soon. He had hired someone to kill and actual man and he didn’t think Callum was just going to forgive him. The last thing he wanted was to spend Valentine's Day say at home alone, wondering why his life was just a series of fuck ups one after the other. He had seen a community centre across town showing a local production of Sleeping Beauty.

“Ah,” He says slowly, sitting up in the chair “Small problem with that,” she comes and sits down at the table and his heart breaks. She looks at him like he hung the moon and the stars, her little face genuinely looks happy. She actually likes spending time with him. She is the one person that doesn’t know what sort of monster he is, the one person that loves him in the most in the world and there is no way he can let her down. Not after he has spent so much of his life doing that already.

So instead he is going to have to have this exact conversation with Callum. Which is going to be like kicking a fucking puppy.

“I think that maybe your mum wanted to go with you!” He tries

“She doesn’t, she said that she is going out because she never gets to anymore,” and that sounds like Lola knew that Ben was going to try and back out – planting words in their daughters head.

“Ok, ok,” He says slowly “Would you mind if it wasn’t just the two of us then?”

“But I wanted to us to go and eat a load of chicken nuggets afterwards, you're the only person who ever lets me,” She says, crossing her arms over her chest. Wow. He isn't coming off as the parent of the year right now.

“Well Callum can eat more chicken nuggets than me so he can help you!” He tells her

“It's Callum that you want to come?” She uncrosses her arms

“Yeah, is that ok? He likes a good princess story does Callum.”

“I like Callum,” Is all she says, jumping off the chair and he doesn’t know why but it does something to him. He hasn’t exactly hid Callum from her, he just isn't sure exactly how much she understands. He knows she isn't stupid. She is way older than her years, he just didn’t know if she knew. “I can save the money grandad sent me and we can get some ice cream too.” She tells him

His heart grows a million sizes. He must be doing something right.

“It's ok princess, I will buy the ice cream, you go with your mum and get the shoes,” She throws her arms around him once more and he swears he almost cries.

Now he just has to convince Callum to spend the most romantic night of the year with him and Lexi while they watch what will probably be an awful production of Sleeping Beauty, rather than everything else he had planned. Brilliant.

He takes his time getting ready, literally dragging his feet as he grabs his keys. Of course it’s the one time he has made an actual effort that’s blown up on his face. Of course it is.

He sighs for what seems like the millionth time on the short journey to Cokers. He just stares at the door not really sure what it is he is going to say, he’s already had Lexi’s disappointed face today, he isn’t sure how he’s going to deal with Callum’s too.

He smooths his hands down the front of his jacket before he steps inside, he doesn’t even know why he is so nervous. Callum gets that Lexi is his priority. He’s never questioned that.

“Did I forget something?” Callum asks him when he spots him at the door, his brow furrowed and well, that’s not like a normal welcome that Ben is used to.

“Hello to you too,” Ben says with a smirk

“Sorry, I’m really busy, did you need something?” He asks, barley looking Ben in the eye and he can’t be having that.

“Can you stop for one second I just wan-“

“What, Ben? What do you want?” He snaps, appearing to realise exactly what he was done once he has done it. He sighs, throwing the papers in his hands down onto the desk. “I’m sorry, I’m just really snowed under and I promised Jay I would have this lot done!”

“And where is Jay exactly?”

“He’s at the car lot but he was supposed to be here helping me, apparently something come up and I said I could handle it,” he tells Ben who steps a little closer, leaning against his desk “and I can’t.”

“You can. I know you. You’re Callum fucking Highway and you can handle anything.. and I’m not just saying that so you do that thing with your tongue again,” he waggles his eyebrows “I genuinely mean it!”

“Yeah but you say that about everything. You’d tell me I could fly a plane if I said I wanted to,” Callum laughs, ignoring the rest of Ben’s comment, the light shade of pink that is currently on his cheeks though tells Ben it didn’t go amiss

“Because I believe you could fly a plane if you wanted to… granted you’d need all that training and stuff first but you would look hot in the uniform!”

“Did you just come here to flirt with me?” He asks, the small smile creeping a little further onto his face

“Well, if I can’t flirt with my Valentine, then who can?”

“You haven’t asked me yet!” Callum points out

“Callum Highway, will you be my Valentine?” Ben asks, a little flare of drama added by the jazz hands his throws out at the same time, making sure the smile that was slowly getting bigger creeps to full capacity.

“I don’t know ya know, I’ve had a few other offers! What are your plans for me?” Ben’s face drops and it must be noticeable because Callum stands a little straighter “I thought you said you wanted me to be free tomorrow night?” He scratches the back of his neck and he looks embarrassed and a little nervous

“I did! I had all these plans and I swear that I will shift them all and we will go on Saturday, I promise!”

“Sooo, you don’t want to spend Valentine’s Day with me?”

“I do! Cal, I really, really do! I just might have double booked myself,” he says and the words just don’t sit right in the air and it’s only once he sees Callum’s face does he realise the way it sounds.

Callum doesn’t say anything and Ben can’t get his words out. He is fumbling around in his pockets for the tickets, Lexi had drawn Callum his own ticket while he was getting ready so he would have one to bring before Ben could pick up the other.

He hands him the ticket, still unable to get any words out, for fuck sake, he is Ben Mitchell!! Talking peoples ears off is what he does!

“I don’t know what this is,” Callum tells him as he looks down at the picture

“I mean she wants very clear with me either if I’m honest, but I’m her dad and I’m supposed to understand her drawings! I know that’s you,” he says pointing down to one of the drawings “I think that’s me, that’s definitely a princess, which would make that Lexi!”

“Ok?”

“It’s a ticket,” Ben tells him “I had forgotten that I promised to take her to see Sleeping Beauty and it’s tomorrow night! If you would like to come with us, then Lexi has made you your own ticket, if you don’t it’s fine and I complete understand if you don’t want to spend Valentine’s Day with me and Lex- umph!” He is cut off by Callum’s lips on his own.

His hands move to the side of his face. It’s a kiss with his full force, it’s not exactly passionate or romantic but it feels a little more. It feel distinctively like love and Ben can’t help but feel it in every part of him.

It’s at that moment that he realises that it’s never really mattered when he has told Callum he loves him because it’s never going to be big enough. He is never going to be able to find a way to tell him he loves him that encompasses everything he feels. He spent a long time running away from feeling anything only to find Callum and feel everything.

“I would love to spend my Valentine’s Day with the two of you. Thank you for including me.” He tells Ben. Like he would even want to arrange a single thing that didn’t include him. Their lips are barely parted and he can feel every word that Callum says.

“I love you.” The words feel deafening in the silence of the small room.

He can feel Callum smile against his own lips, both of his hands now cupping Ben’s face.

“Say it again, please.”

“I love you, Callum.”

Callum sighs into his mouth just as he kisses him but it’s a different sigh this time. It’s more a sigh of being content than anything else and Ben feels weird.

It’s a good weird though, it’s like a million feelings mixing with a million realisations. He feels good here with Callum. It feels right. It feels like home.

Callum is the home he’s wanted for so long. The one he has craved and fought for. The one he has pretended not to need when he was on the edge and barely holding on. Callum and Lexi. They are his family and that is all he will ever need. edge and barely holding on. Callum and Lexi. They are his family and that is all he will ever need.


End file.
